Cryptocurrency is Illegal: President of India’s Major IT Body

This week, or this year in general, hasn’t been very substantial for India with matters related to cryptocurrency industry. First, due to the regulatory incompetence, Reserve Bank of India banned any cryptocurrency banking facilities whatsoever, which caused a major shock for the public.

The cryptocurrency exchanges of the country filed petitions against the new law but rather than getting a finalized answer to the cryptocurrency’s stance in the country; the Supreme Court keeps delaying the hearing.

Now, this month can be defined as a bitter-sweet journey for the masses as there was an uproar for the viral picture of India’s first bitcoin ATM that circulated on the social media platforms. The founders of Unocoin, the company that was launching the ATM confirmed the speculations and claimed that they would soon launch operations via machine.

Some even saw this step as “monumental” for the country’s relation with cryptocurrency and believed that this might stir up the dry spell. However, things took a turn for the worse when the co-founder of Unocoin was arrested last week under the charges of operating the bitcoin ATM for unlawful activities.

It delayed the operational start of the machine as the police authorities seized the ATM. The claims were discarded as false by another co-founder as he claims that the machine was not even working at the time of arrest, so the speculations are false.

One of the founders of Unocoin says that “bitcoin might not be a legal tender in the country, but that doesn’t mean that it is illegal.” To this, president of India’s major IT body, Debjani Ghosh voiced her opinion and said that not being a legal tender makes cryptocurrency illegal in the country.

Debjani Ghosh, head of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) confirmed the current position of cryptocurrency as “illegal,” claims the Business Line reports. The IT Company works at safeguarding the technology startups in the country for legal and regulatory issues. She urges that the matters related to crypto should directly discuss with the government.

Ghosh says, “It is the law of the land, and hence, we have to work with it. If we do not agree, we have to go back to the government and speak about why cryptocurrencies aren’t correct (legal).” However, it should be noted that the government has clarified that bitcoin isn’t legal in the country, but they haven’t ruled that they are exactly illegal either.

It has created confusion all over the country, and there is a pile of petitions in the Supreme Court demanding a clear answer to the stance of cryptocurrency in the country. Ghosh was quipped about the recent bitcoin ATM issue and what the founder of Unocoin claimed.

To which she replied, “The genesis of this problem, however, lies in the failure of policy-making not keeping pace with rapid technological changes.” She claims that they have yet to look into the matters to say anything for certain.